Question about Instant Pot

Mine isn't an instant pot I use a farberware pressure/slow cooker. Same difference. I use the 6 at. I have a 10 qt stovetop pressure cooker that gets used heavily in winter. The 6 qt is perfect for the two of us. I know that because I used a 4qt originally. Too small. If you can store a larger pot, go for it. It doesn't have to be filled to work, but a smaller size can't be adjusted to accommodate a larger quantity.

I don't use the instant pot I have an aroma multi cooker that does everything except the pressure cooking feature. I don't have a my for that feature. I absolutely love my aroma cooker. I just gave my neighbor one as a gift. She didn't think she would have any use for it but she loves it. She sends me an email every day telling me what she made in it. I gave her some of my recipes but there's lots of them online and pinterest.

I got this most recent one that does everything for under $40 at Costco.

Saute and simmer is my favorite. You can brown the meat and vegetables in the same pot!

We have the 6 qt and it's a good size for the two of us. For more than 2-3 people, the larger instant pot might be best. We really like our instant pot.

I have a six-quart instant pot. I live alone, and always get several meals out of it. If you have a large family, the larger one might be better. I love mine.

I am so glad you asked about these. I have also been mildly interested in them and in fact was browsing in BB&B yesterday to see what they had. They did not carry the InstaPot brand (or at least I think that is a brand name), which is what several of my friends have.

With the spreading legalization of marijuana - more than half of the states now allow either general use or "medical" use - the heading of this thread on the front page summary made me think it was on a different topic. I thought - wow, some entrepreneur has developed instant pot?

LOL, Elmer. Thanks for the laugh. And thanks to the rest of your for your responses. They will help me make the decision as to what size.

I'm with Elmer in thinking this thread was about marijuana. Then I thought, "Maybe she got cut off, and it's about instant potatoes." THAT interested me, since it would be nice to discover someone had invented a brand that could pass for mashed potatoes in a pinch.

Got another laugh out of this thread. Thanks, chisue.

I see it comming, maybe in the form of one of those Chi Pets, form of a human head, water, put clear dome lid over it and next day you have a pot head...instant pot. You know that would make someone very very rich.

Me too, I thought it was about pot :-)

Off topic, but chisue, Trader Joe's has some frozen mashed potatoes that are pretty darn good. I add some extra butter and cream. They come on discs so you can portion out as much or little as you want.

Thank you, Chi! I must be the laziest 'cook' around. We occasionally have one of the "Bob Jones" refrigerated mashed potatoes from the grocery meat department. Too much for two; too little for four. There's one variety without oil added -- just potatoes, butter, salt. I hadn't thought to look in the frozen foods.

There won't be anything resembling the chia donkeys or heads for kitchen pot use. Cannabis is grown from seeds, and they do need to be sprouted first, but the plants take months to grow and get pretty big. The prized part of the plant is the buds, not the leaves, because it's there the active ingredient is most concentrated.

PK, you guys crack me up.

I was actually joking about the chia heads. Lol. Of course I know how to grow pot... Not.

Walnut, I don't have an Instant Pot, I have a Fagor multi cooker for the last 7 or so years. I use it often, probably appreciate it more than any small appliance I've ever bought, would replace it in a heartbeat if anything ever happened to it.

I was only looking for a replacement slow cooker when I was attracted by the multi-functions. I have other stove top pressure cookers/canners, hadn't realized I'd enjoy the electric programmable cooker so much. I have the 6 qt, I've never wished it was bigger, but then I do have larger pressure cookers, and a large electric roaster.

Fagor 6 qt Multi Cooker

I have a 6-quart Instant Pot. It's just the two of us, so it's usually big enough. However, when I do ribs, I think an 8-quart would serve me better. And sometimes I like to do a large roast and freeze portions for later, so a larger one would be nice.

I have the Aroma rice and other cooker. Great tool, even though we know how to steam/cook rice several ways in various gadgets. You cannot go wrong.

As for the Insta-pot -- a friend has this and really likes it. It can cook/steam rice and vegetables, but can also work as a pressure cooker. Friend likes it very much. You can read the many reviews and questions on Amazon. Best of luck.

I have a parrot, and the pots cook at high temperatures. Instant Pot was the only one that didn't have teflon. If it gets too hot, it can kill birds.

I happen to know what you were talking about with your title of your post. I have two electric pressure cookers. One is a smaller one from Aldi and the other a larger one that was a gift, a Wolfgang Puck. If you ever need to cook a larger amount of food the bigger one is best, the smaller one will not work for you. You can still cook a small amount in the bigger one, but not a bigger amount in your smaller one. So go with what will work for you. They are pretty much the same. They are quite handy.

Sue

Marilyn, how do you like your Wolfgang Puck cooker?

Walnut Creek I have no complaints about either of my pressure cookers. They do come in handy. I forgot to mention if you are just cooking for one, like I do most of the time, the microwave Nordic pressure cooker does a great job. Cooks up to 3 pounds of meat I think. I have had it for years. Hope you enjoy whatever you decide to get.

Sue

There is one on sale today with Amazon Prime Day. $89.99 for "Save 30% on Instant Pot DUO80 8qt. Pressure Cooker"

I too felt let down after the anticipation of the title. (heavy sigh) To quote Dr. Smith from Lost In Space "Oh the pain... the PAIN!!"

I bought a pressure cooker from HSN. It had a one year warranty and stopped working a few months after the one year. :\ I always take care of my appliances and to have one break so easily was very disappointing. I would like to get another one. I believe I had the larger sized one and would like to look into maybe the smaller ones since I will be using it for just me and DH. The brand from HSN was an Elite Bistro.

I also have the 6 quart Instant Pot... bought it after a weight loss group kept talking about it, had never heard of it before. It's my favorite small appliance! I cook for 2 but it always makes more than enough in that size pot. I can't imagine needing a bigger one. My favorite thing is putting in frozen foods... chicken, roasts... they just take longer to come up to pressure but the cooking time is a fraction of in the oven and the meat has turned out perfectly each time.

I went ahead and placed an order for one. It should arrive tomorrow.

I got a 6 qt Ultra over Black Friday from Amazon. I got the Ultra because you have way more temperature control with it than any of the other models. I can do sous vide in it, which will be a boon for me since I ended up with Type 2 diabetes recently and consequently have to vastly increase my meat intake (to cut carbs). And I don't much care for meat. Thus, I can sous vide filet mignon in it and cook it PERFECTLY WELL DONE without having to beg for advice on how to accomplish that - which I never get. Instead I get a barrage of people telling me I don't DESERVE to eat steak if I'm going to "ruin" it. I'm pretty sure gagging it up because its still bloody would actually be ruining it, not so much the cooking until it doesn't bleed any more.

Thus I haven't had filet mignon for decades since I refuse to order it in a restaurant any more after a "chef" had a screaming fit at me over the well-done order - and then literally burnt it to a crisp, and I never manage to cook it well enough without constantly having to cut into it to see if its done yet. Too much trouble - until now.

Total control with the Instant Pot. YAY! Ditto pork chops. Way easier. For those of you who LIKE your meat still bloody, also a boon - as you can sous vide to your doneness-preference as well.

There is not enough temperature control to temper chocolate, sadly. You can only set it to 104F at the lowest, although lower temps are used in the yogurt cycles. But the temperature range in the yogurt settings vary too much for tempering chocolate. You have temperature control between 104F and 208F, with a +/- 1F to 2F range. Good enough for most sous vide but not for tempering chocolate.

I grew up pressure cooking regularly, for canning and for meals. At this point in my life I'm a lot more partial to freezing than canning and the IP is not any use for canning anyway - but it does many cooking tasks way faster and easier than in the oven or on the range. Plus - it automatically shuts off. A safety feature I GREATLY appreciate. I know how to use a stovetop pressure cooker but then I have to remember to watch it. With the Instant Pot, I can set-it-and-forget-it.

As for tasting while cooking - I don't need to do that. I have, in fact, NEVER needed to do that. And yet somehow those I cook for somehow manage to find my cooking edible. Yummy, even. Tasting while cooking may be fun, but not all of us NEED to do that to turn out good food.

I will be using the IP to make yogurt, to ferment dosa/idli batter, to sous vide meat so as to render it edible for me, to make various soups and stews and other meals.

I have found LOTS of Indian recipes - Indians have been using pressure cookers to cook for years so they are way more comfortable with using one than most Americans, given we as a culture pretty much gave up on pressure cookers post-70s, largely, I believe, due to our decreasing family sizes and increasing addiction to fast food. Fewer Asian recipes but they're out there, mostly Thai is what I've found thus far.

I bought the Instant Pot specifically because I could get a Teflon insert for it. And I have birds. I have kept birds for decades and used Teflon the entire time. I have NEVER lost a bird to anything other than old age, one egg binding, and one brain tumor. Oh yeah and a car-backfire-induced heart attack (cockatiel).

I did once burn up a Teflon pan. I had 4 birds at that time and none of them noticed a thing. It never reached outgassing temps.

Teflon doesn't start outgassing until something close to 700F, and if your Teflon gets that hot, your kitchen is likely on fire. Far more dangerous to birds is almost anything you burn - especially any kind of oil. Every oil I know of (cooking oils obviously) has a flashpoint of 420F or less, far below the temp at which Teflon could become dangerous, and every single one could kill your birds from the fumes. Plus, any tinned cookware, the melting point of tin is pretty low, about 450F. That'll overheat and kill your birds long LONG before Teflon will.

Teflon is not dangerous. If you think it is, better stop drinking from the public water supply - because I guarantee you there is a ton of teflon tape used in water pipes. Also, forget ever getting a stent, pacemaker, any joint replacement, or numerous other medical devices that extend people's lives significantly. Avoiding Teflon is far more likely to shorten your life than cooking with it. While I certainly don't recommend the practice, you can safely EAT Teflon. The only possible danger from it would be if you tried to eat a whole roll of Teflon tape and it caused an intestinal blockage. And surely none of us are doing that.

I ordered a nonstick liner when I ordered the IP. I'm still trying to find an affordable nonstick induction pan for my induction cooktop that I recently got.

I don't care if its truly "one pot" or not. I'm good with browning my meat post-cooking. In a little bacon grease, yet, NUM!

I got this to replace my stovetop cooker, because it can be fully automated, because it does a lot more than even a stovetop PC, because it combines 4 devices and takes up the space of only one (slow cooker, pressure cooker, fermenter, rice cooker). Plus since I no longer use my cooktop or oven at all, it sits on top of the stove (right next to my induction plate) thus taking up 0 of my highly valuable and in short supply counter top space in my teensy tiny kitchen.

I want it because it is safer for me to use since it is totally programmable and on a timer and will shut itself off even if I DO forget about it. It is one leg of my safe-kitchen to keep me independent longer. The others are the induction plate, my air fryer, and my Zo bread machine.

I also have a Zo micom rice cooker which I LOVE, but found out just a few weeks after I got it that I wasn't going to be eating rice every day any more (due to diabetes doncha know).

I now use the oven for storage, LOL! Only metal things just in case, but still. I am one person, I never roast anything (no roast beast in this house as it is just me and I am not big on the carnivore thing anyway), I don't bake cookies or pies or cakes any more at all since I'm diabetic and wasn't baking them but once or twice a year anyway.

Every single thing I need on a daily basis can be made in the air fryer, the IP, or on the induction plate. On the rare occasions where I will allow myself some bread, I have the bread machine. I don't really NEED the rice cooker any more but given its practically brand new and I spent so much on it (after lusting after one for so many years when I WOULD have used it daily) I'll keep it around and make rice in it anyway, even though I COULD do that in the IP using the pan-in-pan method.

These things are an absolute boon to those of us who are busy, aging, short on time, or who like to cook spur-of-the-moment. For years I wouldn't even consider an electric pressure cooker due to explosions of some of the early models, years ago. Can't remember the brand anymore but they were being sold by one of the shopping channels 20 or 30 years ago. But computer control of such devices (and sensors and all the associated technology) have vastly improved in the intervening decades and they are quite safe nowadays - way safer than me trying to rely on my failing memory to use a stovetop pressure cooker.

I will say, if you want to make stock regularly, consider the largest 8qt model. Remember you can only fill a pressure cooker 2/3 max, half if you're cooking beans (soybeans should NEVER be cooked in an IP as they foam horribly - there are people who insist it is safe on the one hand but then eventually let slip that it has "only" blocked the relief valve "once or twice" so do NOT do soybeans in the IP ever). Currently an 8qt is not available in the Ultra line. I wish I'd picked one up when they were on sale for $70 or $80 over Thanksgiving, but maybe next year - and maybe next year I can get the 8 qt in the Ultra configuration or something even better. But only if I keep up with making stock.

There are people who do stock in the IP regularly who insist on using a shorter cook time, but then reuse the bones over and over again. I find this rather silly. Use fewer bones in each batch and cook it for longer. If the bones are not easily crumbled between your fingers when the batch is done, you didn't cook them enough. I put crumbly bones aside and moosh them up to add to my dog's food - they are perfectly safe at that point.

But if they won't crumble, I put them back through for another round of stock . If there aren't enough to make a whole batch of stock, I freeze them until I have enough. I never reuse soft bones, I like to keep my stock clear and re-cooking already soft bones can cause them to crumble in the stock and make it cloudy. Eventually I will home in on the settings that will allow me to cook x-lbs of chicken bones for y-minutes (adjusted for high altitude) so the bones are reliably soft when done. Bones should be crumbly and stock should be thick, clear and gel when refrigerated. Then you've got the right settings.

I don't do turkey any more but when I did, I made stock in my giant pressure canner so an entire carcass pretty much filled that up. And I'm talking a 30+ pound bird. Not the dinky 12 or 15 lb carcasses people seem partial to these days. I swear the meat-to-bone ratio on those is so bad they look like they starved to death, LOL! Anyway, can't help with advice for fitting turkey bones into one of these.

I doubt I'll ever have beef bones now that they cost money (I used to get them for free for my dogs) given the only beef I ever eat is hamburger, filet mignon, or the odd bit of corned beef - nary a bone to be seen. But chicken bones and the odd pork bone will be getting used to make stock on a regular basis. I can't give any recommendation for amounts as all my knowledge of this revolves around stovetop pressure cookers which cook at 15 psi and the IP tops out at 11.5ish - so I will have to experiment until I find the times and amounts that seem to work best.

They don't make the 8 qt LUX any more and the only difference I can see between the DUO and the DUO PLUS is a "cake" cycle - I'm almost positive that the 9th function the DUO PLUS claims over the DUO is just a built-in program for the high setting on the yogurt cycle, though it might also take advantage of the longer timer settings available on the Ultra. You can most likely custom program a cake cycle on the DUO if you really wanted to - not sure about that, but baking cake in the IP is not one of my priorities, LOL!

I find the Ultra the most flexible due to the addition of expanded control over temps. I live at 5200 feet but find that the "high altitude" setting is not all that useful given that it only works for the predefined programs and I always use custom programs. So I still have to convert times to account for the higher elevation for everything I cook.

The Ultra also gives you more control over the timer functions in custom mode. This means I can set-it-and-forget-it in one go when fermenting dosa/idli batter, which is not possible in the DUO because the timer couldn't be set for a long enough time in the DUO models - you need 8 to 12 hours and the DUO only went up to 6 on the yogurt cycle, while the Ultra goes up to 99 hours on the timer for that function. So that's a 2 step process that requires you to remember to set it again at the end of the first cycle - and if I miss the beep for any reason my idli/dosa batter could be ruined by cooling down too much in between the steps. That's not a problem in the Ultra.

Plus the whole sous-vide-in-your-Instant-Pot thing, which is only possible in the Ultra.

The Bluetooth version I find useless since you need a data phone to access most of its "advanced" features. I have no use for a kitchen device that relies solely on an app running on a data phone. Give me a remote or give me something that will run from my PC. Or let me do it all at the panel. YMMV. Plus, the app is, by all reports, pretty sucky. The Bluetooth version also seems to be the same as the DUO so - less capable than the Ultra anyway. The app is supposed to bring some extra functionality - but that doesn't seem to have been the case so far.